The Big Chill

Quarter before Eight.

Bobby was outside the convenience store as he waited for Aurora to do her bathroom break. The rain was now but a light breeze but it was extremely cold outside so he adjusted the zipper on his jacket to protect himself from the severe chill. He dialed Mike's number. The one that answered was excessively mad. Crazy mad.

"Why aren't you answering me earlier! F_ck!" Mike cussed. His anger was palpable. His blood pressure is somewhat off the roof.

Bobby shook his head. "I am in the midst of driving Mike. I have to find a place to make this call privately."

Mike is almost yelling, "See, I can't quite get what you said earlier in the office. Can you repeat it for me?"

Bobby sighed. He was too relaxed. "You know, I don't have system access. That thing earlier? I have to do some stupid thing to obey my own personal commitment to you. See, I am almost caught red handed...so just consider it a short drama between you and me. Now that we are out of it you can again ask a logical question and you will get a clean response this time."

Mike was easily pacified.

"I thought you are fucking with me again. Any update on Silayman?"

Bobby lit a cigarette, exhaled a couple of times and rubbed his right hand on the side of his jacket to warm his tightened fingers.

"I got a hit."

The news uplifted Mike's mood a hundred percent.

"That is one f_cking good news!" Mike laughed.

Bobby is in control of the situation.

"I might no longer need the info I requested earlier. He lives in the darknet. I got lots of search results."

Mike was excited by the good news and wanted to know more. "Can you give details of that?"

"Well, I can't deliver right now. I have to go home and do some more homework. "

Bobby looked inside the convenience store and he had not seen Aurora come out.

He looked at his watch and it was getting late.

Bobby begged off.

"Mike, I got to go. "

Mike was still on his table approving a lot of police clearances for tomorrow's releases.

"Okay, do your thing and give it to me when you are done."

"I will," Bobby replied.

Bobby got off the phone and went inside the store which was empty of customers. He went over to the counter and asked the store cashier.

"Have you seen a woman come out of the comfort room?"

"What woman?" the cashier asked.

"Woman with long curly hair and wearing a business suit."

The male cashier replied, "Oh yes, she went out a while ago."

Bobby bought himself a pack of cigarettes and lighter. After paying, he went outside towards his parked car and saw that the lights inside were open. Aurora was already inside the car.

He opened the door and saw Aurora was sitting calmly. HIs bag was intact and neatly placed at the back seat. He turned off the light over his head.

"Are we done?" He asked Aurora after getting in and closing the door beside him. She smiled in a forced way with her dimple showing on both her cheeks..

"Let's go home. I am a bit tired," she replied as she grabbed her coat to cover her from the running cold aircon.

Halfway in their travel back home, Aurora was restless. It seemed as though a high fever just got over her and she kind of moved around in her seat trying a comfortable position.

"Are you okay?" Bobby sensed something bugging her.

Aurora straightened up in her seat.

"I'm sorry Bobby. I can't ...my mind is spinning."

Wondering. "Why is that, Aurora? "

The rain kind of stopped at the time they reached the superhighway. She had a weary thought inside that bogged her and she was covering her face and exhaling out that feeling of heaviness. She tried retelling what just happened .

"Back there, at the gas station when I went inside the comfort room..."

"What happened back there?"

She shook her head. "It's kind of spooky. It spook me right now as I think of it."

Bobby was minding the vehicle and focusing on the lighted area of the highway he was driving on but Aurora had something that suddenly gripped him by the throat.

"The comfort room has a cubicle and I went inside cubicle number 3. I was relieving myself when a woman with a deep voice in the cubicle beside me said something. I thought he was talking to someone on her cellphone."

"What the..? Bobby almost skidded in his driving. The road is somewhat slippery.

"Then she kind of told me about you, Bobby."

Bobby was alarmed. "She knew me?" Too aghast and worried at the same time.

"I asked, are you talking about Bobby? My office mate? Then she laughed. Who else she said that I am with?"

Aurora's eyes widened a bit. Unable to contain her disbelief about what she just heard.

"Tell him to stop, the woman said. Stop what? I asked. Then she said, if he doesn't, something will be disturbed in the space time continuum. I asked, "What is space time cont…..?" I can't even pronounce it myself. I don't have the slightest idea what it means. But she said... You will see...You will see.... I tried to finish as fast as I can."

Bobby had a hunch that Aurora might have messed up with his bag and looked at his files.

"Did you….pry on my belongings?"

Aurora reacted and shook her head a couple of times. "No Bobby! I haven't the slightest idea what you are saying. I can stop if you don't want to hear me. She just said something I thought you might be interested to hear. I...I am not making this up. I came out as fast as I could because I am really scared by what she told me. But when I went out of my cubicle...."

"What happened? Did you see her?"

"She was already gone!"

"Oh f_ck!" Bobby exclaimed as he stomp with his bare hands the stirring wheel in front of him. He tried to regain his composure sighing a couple of times, then crackling the stuck nerve on his neck- to release the accumulated tension. But there were genuine chills now running all over his back.

Who is this woman she is talking about? Did she just make it up? But how can she know so much of what he is doing right now? F_cking unbelievable!

Bobby stopped the car at the apartment complex where Aurora lives. It was too dark and the available lamp posts in the area were somehow busted. She managed to bring with her a small flashlight which she used to light up her way out of the car. Outside, as Aurora was about to close the door, Bobby asked one last question.

"Did she tell you what's gonna happen if I continue... what I was doing?"

Aurora threw her arms nonchalantly then looked up at the sky. "Of course, she probably was joking around when she said it. That's way out of line. Bobby, I shouldn't have told you that story."

But Bobby was already invested in.

"I insist Aurora, what did she tell you? I am not taking it against you."

The flashlight accidentally hit Bobby's eyes as Aurora lowered down a bit to check back on him. Then Aurora said without batting her eyelash.

" You will die, Bobby."

The words hit him like a dagger. It might be from the way she said it because it was diabolical, unafraid and unforgiving.

"Thanks for the ride," Aurora then closed the car door and casually walked on.

Something just lodged on his throat. The f_ck is that? He can't breathe. Or maybe he was just hyperventilating. Whatever he felt was weird and made him very uneasy. Is that a premonition of sort? Too late to go back to the gas station. That woman in the cubicle must be gone by now. F_ck! F_ck! That can't be true and Aurora is just messing up his mind.